TI9 Dota 2 Day 9 updates: OG silence home crowd, Liquid edge Secret
With 18 teams from across the world currently gathered in Shanghai to compete for the biggest prize of all in Dota 2, all eyes are on this grand dame of esports events.
Two of the 18 teams, Chaos Esports and Ninjas in Pyjamas, did not make it past the Group Stage.
Alliance, Keen Gaming, Fnatic and Natus Vincere all departed on the opening day of the Main Stage (20 August) at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, while Virtus.pro and TNC Predator were eliminated on Day 2. They were followed by Mineski and Newbee, who both went out on Day 3, and Evil Geniuses, Infamous and Royal Never Give Up on Day 4.
Yahoo Esports looks at the results of the remaining teams competing in TI9 right now.
TI9: Main Stage Day 5 Results
Saturday (24 August) started with Team Secret taking on Vici Gaming. Clement "Puppey" Ivanov and his team showed great form, beating the Chinese team in two straight games as they set up a next round clash with Team Liquid.
The spotlight then shifted to the upper bracket finals, with defending champion OG coming up against China-based PSG.LGD.
The Chinese team took the first match, much to the delight of the crowd, after some mid-game pauses due to technical issues.
However, OG came back strong with some unique drafts, including Sebastien “Ceb” Debs on a last-pick Legion Commander in game 3, that saw them through to the finals on Sunday, amidst a muted Mercedes-Benz Arena as the home crowd saw their favourites knocked to the lower bracket.
Secret then faced off against Liquid in the final series of the day, but it wasn’t as close as some people had predicted.
Liquid’s Meepo pick in the first game ruined any plans for Io that Secret might have had, while Secret’s miss in banning Chen instead of Alchemist allowed Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi to dominate the second match.
The exit for Team Secret also means that Puppey won’t be the first player to reach 200 TI games, with that honour going to Liquid’s Kuro "KuroKy" Salehi Takhasomi after tomorrow’s match up with PSG.LGD.
After Snapfire’s announcement on Friday, Valve dropped another hero, this time the mysterious Void Spirit, which some people had already guessed from the elemental stones in promotional material.
We presume Ceb is still lying alone somewhere feeling sad, though not too sad as he and his team will be making their second consecutive appearance at a TI final.
Main Stage Day 6 preview
The last day of TI will see the lower bracket final between Liquid and PSG.LGD, and you can be sure both teams will be giving it their all to make it to the grand final, where OG awaits.
Both OG and Liquid have previous TI winners among their ranks, while PSG.LGD will be channeling the power of the home crowd in Shanghai.
An exciting final day, and a fitting conclusion to The International 2019.
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